


Petals

by AshesIIAshes



Category: Watchmen (2009), Watchmen (Comic), Watchmen - All Media Types
Genre: Dan thinking, Established Relationship, Extended Metaphors, Fluff, Identity, Light Angst, Love, M/M, No Smut, Not Beta Read, Not Even a Kiss, Rorschach Has Issues, Rorschach is difficult, Sappy, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-17
Updated: 2017-02-17
Packaged: 2018-09-25 02:58:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9799742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AshesIIAshes/pseuds/AshesIIAshes
Summary: Dan receives an unexpected Valentine's Day present.





	

**Author's Note:**

> A small thing I wrote to get over my writer's block.

All roses have thorns, but some have more thorns than others. A few of them, Dan thinks, are made almost completely of thorns. Being Rorschach's friend was hard enough on its own. Being his friend _and_ his lover is twice as hard, the number of little niggling things that piss Dan off doubled. It's only because of his love for Rorschach that Dan can ignore those little things (or suppress them, at any rate). He definitely can't talk about them – or tell the guy that he loves him, for that matter – because they don't do things like that; Rorschach won't allow it.

Then then there's the fact that he's still calling him Rorschach. Two years into their relationship (their anniversary last week forgotten, despite all of Dan's little hints) and he doesn't know his boyfriend's real name – not so much as an initial.

And Rorschach _still_ refuses to unmask in front of him. Dan's only seen the lower half of his face, which is no more than anyone at the Crimebusters meeting has seen. At the very beginning of their partnership, Dan removed his cowl and goggles, told Rorschach his real name and invited the other man back to his home. It was meant to be a sign of trust, for all the good it did. Instead of reciprocating, or showing some gratitude, his partner had just admonished him for letting his guard down. Rorschach, to his credit, is not a hypocrite. _He_ still hasn't let his guard down, and at this rate, it doesn't look like he ever will.

Dan absent-mindedly looks at his watch and is pulled out of his reverie with a start when he sees the time. He heads down to the basement to get changed, forgetting his worries for the time being. Dan might have his problems with Rorschach. Nite Owl, on the other hand, couldn't find a better partner even if he spent a million years searching. Rorschach has saved his ass more times than he can count, and when he thinks about it, that's much, much more important than any silly relationship difficulties could ever be.

\---

“Good patrol.” Rorschach's been unusually quiet, even for him, and those two words bring his total for the night up to about ten. Dan almost doesn't hear him. He's been lost in his own thoughts since they got back to Archie. He's just about to respond when Rorschach speaks up again.

“Daniel?” His voice is wavering, and Dan immediately wonders what could be wrong. Luckily, Rorschach speaks up again before his worry can turn into panic. “I… have something to give you. For… for Valentine's Day. Wanted to give it to you earlier, for our anniversary, but… had difficulties.”

After last week's anniversary disappointment, Dan hadn't even considered Valentine's Day. He would have been surprised to get a box of melted candies, or a bunch of wilted flowers from a dumpster. He comes up blank when he tries to guess what Rorschach has for him. Whatever it is, the smaller man is nervous about giving it to him. He fidgets with his hat, and he's looking straight down at Archie's deck, the ink of his mask forming a curious pattern that Dan doesn't remember seeing before.

“Daniel...” He puts his hat down, and Dan watches with confusion while Rorschach undoes his scarf with gloved hands. His fingers hook under the seam of his mask, and he hesitates. Dan realizes what he's doing (or trying to) and, after getting over his initial shock, he smiles encouragingly.

The fingers stay where they are for some time. Dan just keeps smiling, incredulous that this is happening at all. He starts to wonder if Rorschach is going to go through with it, and tries to plan his next move. The last thing he wants to do is pressure him, but he worries that inaction could do more harm than good. Suddenly, Rorschach tears off the mask in one go, like somebody ripping off a band-aid, and Dan is left staring face to face with… whoever this is.

He's got bright blue eyes, freckles that go all the way up to the top of his forehead, with the largest cluster on the bridge of his nose, and scars that Dan hasn't seen before. His hair is short and messy and even redder than his pubes, which Dan didn't think was possible. _Red_ red, not russet or copper or auburn or any of that bullshit; red like a stoplight. Actually, it reminds him of rose petals, and it seems appropriately romantic and a little corny, just like Valentine's Day itself.

“Thank you,” Dan finally manages to say. He can't stop staring, trying to take everything in. The mask hangs limp in Rorschach's hands. Dan half-expects him to put it back on at any moment.

“Happy Valentine's Day, Daniel.”

“Happy Valentine's Day, Rorschach.” Dan hesitates. He knows he shouldn't push his luck, and maybe it doesn't matter anyway (a rose by any other name…) but he can't resist trying to extract one more piece of information. “You know, you, uh, don't really look like a Rorschach. Is there something else I can call you?”

“Walter.”

“Happy Valentine's Day, Walter,” Dan corrects himself.

Dan decides he can deal with thorns. While he doesn't have a green thumb, his hands are as callused as any gardener's, and he wears gauntlets half the time anyway. Besides, what difference do a few thorns make when the petals are this bright?

**Author's Note:**

> _Roses are red_   
>  _Violets are blue_   
>  _Sugar is sweet_   
>  _And so are you._   
> 
> 
> –Nursery rhyme


End file.
